


Mourning for Megalomaniacs (or, Promises Promises)

by speccygeekgrrl



Series: even the mistakes aren't really mistakes at all [5]
Category: Mystery Science Theater 3000
Genre: Family Feels, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Pearl is the worst, all the dads die, because backstory is sad and tragic, this one is not cute and happy like the other ones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-12-07 06:18:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11617698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/speccygeekgrrl/pseuds/speccygeekgrrl
Summary: Frank's ascension to Second Banana Heaven deals a serious blow to the TV's-Forrester family. Max tries to help and accidentally does the worst thing he could possibly have done. The repercussions are severe for all involved.





	Mourning for Megalomaniacs (or, Promises Promises)

**Author's Note:**

> Holy cow you guys, I can finally officially tie in all the backstory stuff into Mistakes! This is really exciting for me! I'd love to know what people think about how this all fits together now. I have a bad habit of working on the same story at different temporal points at the same time, so it's a relief to me to have one solid progression now. I might go back and add a little more kid cuteness if I get inspired, but as it stands now there's three parts of backstory/kid stuff and I have no definite ending point for the story as they're adults. I do plan on taking the story all the way through to what we see in the series, hopefully!

Frank's ascension to Second Banana Heaven came unexpectedly, and no one in Deep 13 dealt with it particularly well. Max was gutted to lose his father and terrified of losing the rest of his (non-biological) family. Dr. Forrester could have kicked him out, he was an adult and theoretically could fend for himself, but when he haltingly asked what would happen to him, Clayton looked distraught at the thought of his departure.

"Of course you'll stay," he said, hands gripping Max's upper arms just a little too hard. "This is your home. I can't lose you both..." He shook his head sharply, as if trying to rouse himself from a bad dream. "Kinga would be heartbroken if you went anywhere. She needs you around."

Max expected to take care of Kinga more intensively while her father dealt with his grief. He didn't expect to have to take care of both Forresters, though. Kinga didn't get it at first, kept asking when Frank would be alive again, and no one knew how to explain that even though he'd died before, this time it was for good, no weird science to bring him back. Not much science got done for a while after Frank's departure. Not much of anything got done for a while. Max had to remind Clayton to eat at regular intervals and ended up improving his own cooking skills just to make sure they didn't all survive solely on pizza and takeout. Sure, they'd eaten a lot of pizza and takeout before, but that was about all Clayton could manage on his own, always having left the cooking to Frank. Max had learned a bit from his dad, but learned more in the three months he spent stepping up as the only functional adult in the place.

The summer passed with little joy to be found anywhere in Deep 13. Max tried to keep Kinga occupied outside of the depressing atmosphere of the evil lair that was their home, but didn't have much luck in getting Clayton to go anywhere with them. Max had never been so stressed in his life, holding it together for the sake of the Forresters when he was with them, trying to process his grief on his own to not trouble them further. He turned 21 halfway through the summer and considered getting absolutely wrecked to mark the occasion, but discarded the idea quickly after the weeks he'd spent around a frequently drunk and often weepy Dr. Forrester. It was unsettling to see the man so listless that he didn't even want to do evil.

Clayton was depressed and Max didn't know what to do about it except to call in help. Pearl Forrester had dropped by Deep 13 on occasion, and Max figured that maybe Clayton just needed some maternal affection to come out of his funk. Unfortunately, affection was scarce where Pearl was concerned. She moved into Deep 13 and immediately started haranguing her son and annoying her granddaughter. Kinga always ran to Max for comfort after interacting with Pearl, and Pearl didn't like that. She didn't seem to like Max at all, even though she'd been on friendly terms with Frank. 

It sucked, but Max could deal with the amount it sucked, as long as he knew that he was keeping Kinga from sliding into the darkness that had swallowed her father. She was used to being indulged and adored by everyone around her, but with Clayton effectively useless and Pearl insistent upon everything being done her way, only Max was treating her how she was accustomed to being treated. Things settled into an uncomfortable equilibrium for a few months, Max lurking around to keep as far under Pearl's notice as possible, Kinga putting up with her grandmother for half an hour maximum before she'd give up and go find Max to talk to someone who actually cared, Clayton being prodded back into doing bad things by Pearl, but obviously with his heart not in it, and Pearl digging her metaphorical nails into the whole family heedless of how much it hurt them.

Then Clayton turned into a star baby and the entire world lost the plot as far as Max's control over his own life was concerned. Without a Gizmocrat to run the place, Deep 13 was forfeit. Pearl found herself with one strong-willed granddaughter and one somewhat astral infant to care for and rejected Max's help with either.

"Your services are no longer necessary," she told him, and his jaw dropped. "Say goodbye to Kinga. You won't see her again."

When Max told Kinga what she'd said, the color drained out of Kinga's face and she flung herself at Max. "Don't let her take me away," she begged. "I don't want to go with her. I want to stay with you."

"I'm not your family legally," Max said, wrapping his arms around her. "I can't do anything to stop her. I wish I could."

"Do _something_ ," Kinga said desperately. "Steal me. Let's run away together. We can go to... uh..." She didn't know where to go. Max pulled on the string of that thought and watched it unravel in his mind. He had a car, yeah, and a little money his dad had left him, but not enough for them to start over anywhere. They couldn't live out of a car, she deserved better than to be raised fatherless and homeless. At least if she was with Pearl she'd be taken care of-- not loved, really, not like she was used to being loved, but not living on the streets, at least.

"I'm sorry, Kinga," he whispered, and her face crumpled into despair. She tucked her face against his shoulder and her breath hitched twice before she started to cry in earnest. "Oh, no... I'm so sorry. Shhh." He held her tighter and blinked back his own tears as best he could. It would do neither of them any good if he lost control over his feelings too. He had to be strong... but he couldn't pretend to be strong with her heartbroken sobs in his ear. "You'll-- you'll always be my favorite person," he said, voice thick enough with sorrow that she looked up at him to find the tears streaking down his cheeks too. 

"If I was your favorite person you wouldn't let her take me," she whimpered, and he shook his head.

"The world doesn't work like that. No one would care that we're each others' favorite person. I'm barely an adult, I'm not actually related to you, you need a stable home and all sorts of things I can't give you."

"To hell with all those things."

"Watch your language," he said, and that got a miserable laugh out of her. "I can't keep you, Kinga. I would if I could. But... you can come find me when that's possible. I'm going to stay right here in this city. When you're old enough to get away from Pearl--"

"That's half my life over again," she said. The tears weren't flowing as freely now that she was thinking. "How will I find you?"

"You're smart," Max said, and kissed the top of her head. "You're the smartest. You'll be able to do it."

"I'll do it," she said. "As soon as I can. I promise. Don't... don't forget about me, okay?"

"As if I could ever forget the most important person in my life."

Max tried to keep in contact with Kinga, but Pearl shut that down immediately, refusing to give him an address or phone number, sending his mail back 'return to sender' when he managed to track down an address despite her. It took him months to get his act together, to find an apartment and a job, to puzzle through the financial aid information so he could start college classes. It took a year for him to stop coming home ready to tell her about everything he'd done that day. He never stopped wondering how she was doing, hoping she was all right, hoping that some day she'd find him and they'd be reunited.

He had no idea that she was a thousand miles away, at a boarding school for girls in the Finger Lakes of New York. Pearl had barely kept Kinga for two months before foisting her off into someone else's care, leaving the headstrong young genius bereft of all support as soon as puberty hit and things started getting all kinds of weird for her. Kinga hated that she cried so easily now. It felt like she'd barely stopped crying since what happened to her father. She couldn't hold back the tears as Pearl unloaded her few bags and boxes onto the porch of the dormitory Kinga had been assigned to.

“Oh, stop crying,” Pearl said crossly. “You’ll be fine. This is the school all the best mad scientists’ daughters go to, you’ll be in perfect company.”

“I don’t _want_ perfect company,” Kinga sniffled. “I want Daddy. And Max.”

“Daddy’s gone and Max doesn’t matter. You’re here now. Make the best of it.”

“But Grandma….”

“Ah! I don’t want to hear it. You haven’t even given it a chance. Get in there, young lady, and show the world what a Forrester is made of.” Pearl chucked Kinga under the chin and gave her a push toward the dormitory doors. “Go on. You’ll be fine. Make me proud.”

Kinga had no idea what would make Pearl proud, as nothing her father had ever done seemed to manage that feat, but she nodded and sniffed again, tightening her hands around the straps of her backpack. “Okay, Grandma,” she said, but Pearl had already gotten back into her car and started driving off. Kinga looked in dismay at her pile of stuff and at the paper with her room assignment... and then she smiled slightly.

Room 13. That had to be a good omen, right?


End file.
